It is with great sadness that I am having to write this letter to you, the Board of Directors, for the Wisconsin Association of Repeaters. However, the time has been forthcoming for a while now and questions must be asked, and these issues need to be dealt with immediately.

For the longest time I have been on the outside looking in and wondering (along with many others) as to what is going on with the Wisconsin Association of Repeaters and the Board of Directors that run the organization. This has raised questions as to why things have not been progressing when change has been discussed. Why have certain actions or ways of doing business not changed when it has been said that it will? Why does it always seem that discussion is always taking place and no action is being taken? This is further compounded by the fact that a very large and concerning amount of churn and turn-over has occurred within the board leadership over the last couple of years.

This has come up as a topic of discussion among amateurs, and I see a very large and disturbing trend of more and more people noticing the issues. Now, I am not speaking for others in this letter, but the fact remains that many have a very elevated concern with the same topics that I have just expressed. I have even attempted to excuse my thoughts to ensure that I was getting a non-biased and a true view of the situation and sadly all things progressed back to this view.

I, at one time, was in support of the efforts of WAR and even wrote a letter to the president at that time expressing concern and even assistance in some way. The letter was addressed, and a message of possible hope was conveyed, and I accepted that answer. I understand through my many years of life that change does not happen overnight, and that change is difficult and can often be resisted. The aspects of not liking change seem to be an underlying tone within the confines of WAR at this time. However, even if change can occur, the actions done by or allowed to be done under your organization’s name has shown to be done with a certain level or aspect of malice. To prove my point, I bring forth following examples in this letter:

Repeater Coordination of specific frequencies –

Anyone that has submitted a repeater coordination asking for a specific frequency, as allowed by the coordination form, will likely never get that frequency even if it was once coordinated for that specific area. If this has occurred, then why is it only being denied for some and for certain others it is granted?

Unfair or unequal re-coordination of reported paper repeaters –

Three repeater frequencies (147.225 in this case) in the area that I live have been off the air and reported by numerous people as being off the air for greater than five years. However, no further action had been taken into investigating or confirming or denying these numerous reports. However, when a repeater owner (of 145.1300) was experiencing health issues and did not switch coordination in a timely manner to someone else, that repeater (145.1300) frequency was re-coordinated to another group. However, two VERY unique things were occurring with this issue which was 1.) The repeater (145.1300) frequency is a main ARES/RACES frequency for a county; 2.) The group that it was coordinated to (145.1300) had already submitted coordination for the unused frequency (147.2250).

Delay in frequency coordination for significant amounts of time –

While many understand that the coordination job is a volunteer position, why does it seem or appear that infighting is occurring within WAR? This also raises the question as to why the process of submitting coordination is antiquated to say the least. Redundancy of forms and the ability for some to hide behind forms (for example, saying that if form A and form B do not arrive within my mailbox at the same time then things will not be processed). Sadly, attempting to hide behind policy is a common game that appears to be occurring.

What are the dues that are being requested by WAR actually being used for?

WAR is now requiring repeater owners to pay dues and for associates also if they wish to have a voice. This was put into effect last March (2017) and it must seriously be questioned as to what these dues are being used for or what purpose. While this fee has not necessarily been enforced, it seems as though WAR has started to turn more into a club with members than a coordinating body to which it should be in the first place.

I would hope that for the sake of WAR that this letter is addressed and people (myself being one of them) be allowed to speak during the meeting. This has been coming for a long time and is a topic that needs to be addressed regarding the Wisconsin Association of Repeaters.